


Film Critique and Commentary

by Gayle (gay_le_forcewinds)



Series: TrobedTV [4]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Action & Romance, F/F, M/M, based on 4x3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27947201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_le_forcewinds/pseuds/Gayle
Summary: Troy and Abed take their first film to a film festival.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Britta Perry, Troy Barnes & Shirley Bennett & Annie Edison & Abed Nadir & Britta Perry & Jeff Winger, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Series: TrobedTV [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046644
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Film Critique and Commentary

Today was the first day of the film festival. The group had to meet each other there as it was impossible to fit all of them in one car. Luckily, they had one less person to worry about with Chang selling the movie at the video store he worked at.   
As a compromise, Troy and Abed drove themselves while Jeff carpooled with everyone else.

The festival was about 2 hours away, so they had to get up a pretty early to arrive on time, which of course lead to yet another handshake and song.   
"Troy and Abed on a road trip!"

Spending 2 hours in a car with those morons was not ideal for Jeff, definitely not when he was the one driving, but he got through it.   
It actually wasn't even that bad, but he'd pretend it was.

There were two ticket booths in front of them when they all entered: one for those part of the audience, and one for contestants. The couple signed in as contestants, then the rest of the group signed in as part of the audience.

The rules for the festival were simple:   
All films that entered had to be original, PG-13, and no longer than 2 hours. The audience and judges would view all films entered in the festival in a randomized order, then vote on which one they like the most along with the judges. In order to win the festival, you must get two thirds of the vote from both the audience, and the judges. Those competing were allowed to watch other people's films if they so wished, but they were not allowed to vote. Whoever won would get a big check to sign in front of the audience.   
The event continued like this over a few days, each festival varying in size and length depending on location. They chose to compete on the first day because it was held closest to them.

When the couple signed in, they were given a card with the order of which the films would be shown. The rest of the group each got a similar card, but theirs came with little boxes to check when voting. Troy and Abed's movie was being shown third out of the four groups competing today.  
"Perfect. We're right in the middle of the order."Abed said, smiling to himself.   
"Yeah, I don't wanna go first or last. I feel like it'll make people have too high of expectations."   
Abed grinned at Troy. "For the other groups, right?"   
Troy laughed softly. He looked a little closer and saw some people he knew competing.   
"Hey, remember Magnitude?"   
Was that even a question?   
"How could I forget? Everybody loved him!"   
They both mimicked his iconic catchphrase. "Pop pop!" they both bursted into laughter, still not entirely sure what was funny about it.   
"I know right! Check this out!" Troy pointed to the film ordered second.  
" _Pop Pop!_ by **Order of Magnitude**." Abed read. "Huh. That's a pretty clever studio name actually."   
"That's not even everybody. City College is here too." Troy warned, pointing to the film being shown first. " _Takeover_.."Abed read. He pushed the thought away. "Come on, that could be anybody."   
"Oh yeah. Anybody would name their studio _City College Collective_." Troy read with ridicule. "We're not a company, we're a "collective"! What a bunch of lameasses. I bet they just made a movie because they heard we'd be here and they wanted to beat us."   
"Watch them get owned by Order of Magnitude."   
Troy cracked a small smile. "I don't think I've ever met anybody who disliked him."   
Abed examined the card a bit more, then put his thumb by the studio going last. "At least our movie won't be the only one people think has an agenda."   
" **Straight-Up Gay Studios**. At least we were subtle about it. _The Jock and the Nerd_. That's so cliche. It sounds like a porn."   
Abed didn't completely process that he was kidding. "They'd get disqualified if it was. It's probably just a teen or young-adult rom-com."  
Troy made a noncommittal noise as he headed to the crowd of people in folding chairs set up in front of the stage with Abed close behind.

The two eventually found the rest of the group and sat with them.   
"Hey guys, did you get signed in?" Shirley asked sweetly.   
They both nodded.   
"Did you check out the food here?" She asked as a follow-up.   
"We're gonna get food after. Y'all wanna come with us?" he asked the group.   
Jeff grunted. "So we're just gonna ignore that City College is here?"   
"Maybe this is a coincidence." Annie theorized. "How would they even know we were competing beforehand?"   
Britta looked guilty, causing everyone else to immediately glare at her.   
Jeff let out an exasperated sigh. "How'd you Britta this?"   
"I may have posted about it on twitter.."   
Troy's face twisted both in confusion, and in anger. "Why?"  
"I wanted to promote you guys' movie! I figured it'd give you a better chance of winning!I was just trying to help." Britta said defensively.   
"Did you ever think about how this could backfire?" Troy seethed.   
"I didn't think they still cared about us."   
"We will never stop trying to beat Greendale." The dean from City College said as he sat behind them with his team.   
"Yes, please sit behind us and butt into our conversation like we're friends." Jeff bit back.   
"Dean Spreck. You can never leave something alone, can you?" Dean Pelton tutted.   
Britta turned around to face the head of their so-called rival school. "Why do you still care about beating us? We don't go there anymore."  
Dean Spreck met her gaze."Some of you still do."   
He had a point. Hell, Jeff was still a professor there. But it wasn't even that bad, and it paid the bills.   
"Only because we have to."   
"We wanted to show you that we will always reign supreme in everything." Dean Spreck bragged.   
"You're competing against Troy and Abed, not all of Greendale."   
He laughed at Jeff in pity. "But you all helped them make it, right?"   
"They had help from some of us, sure, but they did most of the work."   
"You're all apart of something big. Something that gives you a legacy. Just like these guys are about to be. " Dean Spreck gestured to his students.

The lights dimmed. "Everyone take your seats. Our first film of the night is about to begin." The announcer said over the intercom.   
There were loud piano chords, and then a title screen with the word **TAKEOVER**.   
Underneath, a subtitle: "A City College Collective project."

"It's not a film, it's a "project" " he muttered, mocking them once again. Abed heard him, smiling a little and squeezing his hand to comfort him. "They haven't earned the right to call it a film."   
Troy interlocked their fingers, grinning softly.

The film was a set in a post-apocalyptic universe where the Greendale 7 never learned how to save their school, so City College took over to save everyone after the building collapsed along with the rest of the world, thanks to an asteroid that hit.   
"You all need to be saved from this. And yourselves." Dean Speck said.   
"Oh so it's our fault the asteroid hit?" Troy nitpicked. "Might as well blame the dinosaurs for the last one!"   
"I mean, an asteroid did destroy the earth in cannon, but we didn't cause it." Abed looked into a camera that wasn't there.   
Jeff waved his hand in front of Abed's face. "Hello?"   
"Yeah?"   
"You okay? You were looking off, like you were in your own world. I usually don't question that, but it's not like you to not be engrossed in this movie. You love movies."   
"I know, but Troy-"   
Abed was interrupted by Jeff as soon as he brought Troy up.   
"Is something wrong with him, too? He seems on edge."   
"Probably because City College is here. That's got us all a little shaken up."

"Why did this asteroid really happen?" Shirley contemplated. "It couldn't have been us, and it couldn't have been God."  
"There is no way this movie is about God. Now are we making fun of this movie, or trying to analyze it?"

They all decided it'd be better to make fun of it.

Towards the end, there was a big fight scene between the two deans, which was supposedly about who deserved to rule the world. That did not stop anyone from pointing out how homoerotic it was.  
"I know pinning someone against the wall and whispering in their ear is supposed to be threatening, but I'm kinda turned on." Dean Pelton half-joked.   
"Yeah, they made the rivalry way sexually charged than I remember. Or at least they did with you two. Like, are you flirting, or fighting?"

"So is this like, an all-gay film festival-" Britta said in a hushed tone as she showed Annie the order card.  
She shook her head. "I think this time it's actually a coincidence. Besides, we have no idea if Magnitude is gay."   
It was right then that Britta realized the pun."Magni- oh, Order of- okay that makes sense."

The film ended with Dean Pelton getting shot and Dean Spreck saying, "This is our world now." into the camera.   
The lights came back on and everyone cheered, whether they wanted to or not. The announcer came onto the intercom to introduce the next movie.   
"That was _Takeover_ by City College Collective. Next we have _Pop Pop!_ by **Order of Magnitude**."

 _Pop Pop!_ was significantly shorter than what came before it.   
It detailed Earth struggling with global warming. Then, it detailed life on Mars, where the aliens had noticed the other planet's rotations around the sun starting to fluctuate in speed. Sometimes they'd be slower, sometimes faster, sometimes the Earth would even teeter, and the aliens would freak out. The humans would barely notice. On a particularly short night, rotations sped up until Earth hit Mars, each planet generating a loud explosion.   
The screen faded to black, then Magnitude came into frame to do his catchphrase as a nice little closing to the film.   
The lights came on again. The audience was quite enthusiastic about this film, far more so than _Takeover_. The group guessed that it was because it was more interesting to watch.

Now was the moment they'd all been waiting for. It was time for Troy and Abed's movie to play.   
Dean Spreck tried his best to pick apart the movie like they had done to his, but Troy and Abed seemed to actually know how to answer the questions he had instead of pretending the movie was perfect.  
"Really, you're gonna make fun of my movie for being homoerotic, but then do this?" he asked when he noticed that the Inspector was super touchy with his Constable as he hyped him up to fight. There were a lot of lingering stares framed by long shots that he hated to admit were stunning.   
Abed let out a short, almost snort of a laugh. "Great point. Except, we _meant_ for it to be like that."

When the movie ended, Dean Spreck still had questions. "How did Reggie beat them all with just one kick?"   
"He put everything he had into it, his fear of losing his best friend and boyfriend, his worry that he wouldn't be able to beat them, all the insecurity that was holding him back. It was powerful, and emotionally charged. It was the hardest he ever kicked. They were all in a line. They all fell on top of other and crushed each other one of them malfunctioned, causing a small shock that triggered the explosion."   
Dean Spreck quirked a brow mischievously. "Our movies end kind of similarly. Each of us gets to be the hero, yeah?"   
"I suppose, in a way. Where are you going with this?"   
"What makes your movie better than mine?"   
Abed knew the other was trying to prove something, he just wasn't entirely sure what. He knew that meant he'd have to be vague about it. "I never said our movie was better than yours. "   
he might've _thought_ it, but he never said it.   
"We didn't make it to prove anything, we made it for fun. Whether or not that makes it better is up to what you qualify as good filmmaking."   
The conversation would have continued if the final movie didn't start.

 _The Jock and the Nerd_ was a lot different from what was expected with the title. It wasn't about a football player and a mathlete, but rather a male cheerleader and the president of the AV Club. The two fell in love when they both went into the musical. The cheerleader was in the cast, while the AV Club president was in the tech crew.   
It gave a new meaning to high-school cliques as it was barely about them. The main characters both came from different cliques and eventually fell in love from learning how to branch out. It was cheesy, but it had heart.

"You will all know who wins once all of the votes are counted. You can watch people cast their votes live on our website." The announcer declared.

The group decided they'd be fine with any movie other than fucking _Takeover_ win.   
Dean Spreck, however, refused to lose.   
When the rest of the group wasn't looking, he grabbed Abed by his arm and pulled him backstage, muttering something about needing to talk to him more about the movie in private.  
Next thing he knew, he was trapped in a wardrobe.   
"You know, I'm getting pretty sick of being locked inside of things."   
"we're right behind you in the votes according to my phone. It'd be a shame if we were given your prize because you couldn't stop yourself from being disqualified." he was on his phone while talking to him, writing an email to the judges to request just that.

Abed quirked a brow. "For?"   
"You broke the rules. Your idea wasn't original."   
"Technically, nothing is. I can see where you're coming from, though. They're not our characters, but it's our story. Everything in entertainment is inspired by something or someone else. We told our story through perfected work and creativity, that is how we were original."   
"Who's that quote inspired by?"   
Here he was, leaning against the wardrobe and waiting once again, for someone to come. Perhaps that was exactly what Dean Spreck wanted. If it was, he was severely mistaken. He'd be outnumbered. He tried to flashback to when a similar thing happened in season four, convincing himself things would once again be okay. He did not dare let his fear seep into his voice, for soon the worst would be over. They would each be okay once the other was.

It turned out the others had gotten hungry a lot more quickly than they predicted. They were just about to get food when something felt off. Troy looked around. "Guys.. Where's Abed?"   
Annie joined him in searching the crowd. "I thought he was with you."   
The announcer interrupted their scrambling. "15 minutes left to get all of your votes in, then the results will be final."   
"I should probably go get ready."   
Jeff nodded to Troy. "We're coming with you. Something tells me you might need backup."   
The entire group sprinted backstage.   
As soon Abed heard footsteps, he started banging on the wardrobe from the inside.   
Dean Spreck laughed maniacally."You're just in time to to meet your doom." he was just about to hit send on the angry email that could kill their victory.

Jeff didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew it was bad. Normally, he would have a speech prepared, but sometimes actions spoke louder than words.   
He sucker-punched Dean Speck so hard he fell over, then held him down with his foot. Troy then ran past the two, took the pole out from between the handles of the wardrobe doors, picked his boyfriend up and started to run off. He only stopped because he was worried about the rest of the group that stood and watched in shock.   
"Don't just stand there, go!" Jeff commanded. "I got this. You two go get ready to go up on stage when you win like we all know you will. We'll be in the audience soon. Right guys?" he looked to the rest of the group who gave the most convincing nods they could.

Troy headed off with Abed in his arms. His boyfriend clung to him and hid his head in his chest, his eyes shut tight as he tried to calm down by breathing through his nose deeply enough to lose himself in his smell. Troy set him down in a chair by the Subway in the buliding he was at with everyone else earlier. It wasn't the best place to rest, but it was far away enough to stall for a little bit.   
Troy crouched down so he could envelop him in a grateful embrace. "Oh my god I can't believe that just happened."  
Abed's eyes slowly opened. "I know.."  
Troy pulled away so he could get a good look at him. He gently caressed his face and hands, moving them around and looking for any damage. There was some redness around his knuckles where he banged on the wardrobe, but other than that he was fine. He kissed them softly. "I'm so glad you're okay. By the way, I was going to ask when you were trapped, but I was blind with fear and rage, so I'll ask now. What'd City College want with you?"   
"Spreck wanted us disqualified for being unoriginal. He said that would make his team win because they were runner-up."  
They both got out their phones to see if they were still winning, or even still in the race.   
Given that they were still in, Abed supposed the disqualification was stopped by Jeff knocking out the perpetrator, or just the fact that it was on weak terms.   
Unfortunately, they were now being beaten by City College somehow.   
"What does it mean if they win?" Troy asked shyly.   
"Either that the votes were rigged, or that some people didn't like our movie. But that's fine. We liked it." Abed believed in their work, even if it made him seem cocky. He was proud of what they did. He knew it was good and he believed it deserved to win, or at least beat City College. "We put everything we had into the acting and cinematography, so even if we don't win, there's no way we'll go unappreciated."

Meanwhile, Spreck was tossing and turning all he could to get out from under Jeff's dress shoe that went with his suit that he insisted on wearing despite it being far too fancy for an event like this. Dean Pelton was keeping watch, dressed about as nicely as everyone else, except for his shoes, but stilettos made sense for him.   
Their rival struggled, cursing under his breath. "They've gotten away! Let me go now, will ya?"   
Jeff got in his face. "How do I know that's not exactly what you want?"   
"Okay, fine. I won't send the email. I have other more advanced, more fun forms of sabotage."   
"Oh no you don't!" Dean Pelton sassed. "Jeff, honey, can I take over for a sec? I need to give this bitch a piece of my mind."   
"Alright, just don't call me honey."

Dean Pelton got up from where he was sitting and placed his stiletto next to Jeff's dress shoe, which was quickly removed. Dean Spreck was basically being stabbed in the heart now.   
"Listen you here you little shit, this is not high school. And this," he gestured between the two of them. "is not a rivalry. This is a war that only you want to fight. We are just two schools who live next to each other. We don't have to be in competition, but you demand it. You demand that you're better than everyone else. I give my students a home, an education, and a family. You treat your students like your minions. I have to fight to keep my school alive. You claw your way to the top school of the state, not giving a single fuck about who you hurt. It's about time you let it go and let us have a win for once. We deserve this. They deserve this. Troy and Abed have worked far too hard to have their first movie overshadowed by a bunch of assholes motivated solely by spite. Those who are actually good at what they do don't need to prove it. Step down."  
"It's a little late for that. We already won, bitch. Look at the polls."   
The rest of the group looked at their phones and gasped.   
"There's still 5 minutes left to vote. I'm sure we'll win fair and square, which is more than I can say for you. Even if we don't, there's one thing we'll never lose: our dignity." the group hooted and hollered as Craig took his foot off him and strutted away. The rest followed, mainly to look cool.   
Well, except for Jeff, who looked like he was going to kill him.   
"The hell was that?!"   
"I believe Abed would call it a Jeff Winger speech."   
Jeff gritted his teeth. "Why are you letting him get away?"   
"I have a feeling his sabotage isn't going to slip past the judges. I've fought with him my whole career. He isn't nearly as smart as he thinks."   
"Alright. I'm trusting you. If we lose, its your fault."  
"The votes have been counted. The winning film is _Take_ -" the announcer, and those celebrating got cutoff by an executive whispering something to him. "Nevermind. It appears that the majority of the votes that went to **City College Collective** were fraudulent. They made several accounts on our website with fake emails all connected to the same few phone numbers and really thought we wouldn't notice. They are disqualified effective immediately, meaning that the winning film is now _The New Wave_ by **TrobedTV**! Come up here and sign your check you two!"   
Cheers erupted from the crowd as the couple followed the announcer's instructions.   
The big check they were given would surely be enough to fund their next movie, if not multiple.   
Dean Pelton grinned at his now ashamed rival evacuating the scene, then at Jeff. "Told ya so."

Troy and Abed then went to meet up with their old friend while the others went to order food for real this time.   
"I am so glad you guys won." Magnitude congratulated.   
"Me too. Though, I wouldn't mind if you beat us. You were pretty close to it." Troy told him.   
"What'd you guys think of the film?"   
Abed's face lit up. "Oh it was so cool! I've never seen anything like it. Was that Starburns playing the ruler of the alien race?"   
"You mean Alex?" Magnitude nodded happily. "Yes it was. He's my homie."   
"We thought he was dead."   
"Oh no, he's faked his death several times. " he shushed him. "Don't tell anybody though. We're hoping no one will notice he was in the film since he was there for a split second."   
"How'd you come up with it anyway?" Abed asked out of curiosity.   
"I was telling Alex about how I came up with my catchphrase. I don't know if Troy ever told you about the party we were at where two balloons popped, but that's where it came from. I know it's not the most interesting origin story, but he said it'd be a good idea for a movie. We ended up raising the stakes of the situation to make it more entertaining."   
"Well you two did some amazing   
world-building, especially with just that to go off of." Abed complimented.   
"Thanks. I liked you guys' movie too. Alex and I found you guys on twitter talking about the festival after we signed up. We were so excited to see you when we heard you were competing." Magnitude looked at his watch. "It's getting late. See y'all soon hopefully.   
Good luck in the entertainment business, not that you'll need it." Magnitude said as him and the rest of his team headed out the festival doors.   
Troy and Abed were about to leave too when they were stopped by a tall, muscular man calling them over. "Hey, T-bone right?"   
He nodded. "Yeah? How'd you know that nickname?"  
"Justin, from highschool, remember? We used to play football together." The other man tried.   
"Oh yeah, hey bud!" Troy beamed. "What are you doing here?"   
"I was the Jock."   
Troy's eyes widened. "That was you? Huh. I had no idea."   
"Yeah, I didn't even know you were competing either until I saw your movie. You were amazing."  
"My boyfriend taught me everything I know." Troy said, jutting his head at Abed.   
"Oh, you two are together?"   
They both nodded.   
"That's cool that you make movies together as a couple. Do you have a twitter or something so I can stay updated on your work?"   
Troy gave him their twitter.

The whole group met up by the exit and headed home.   
They had pizza, and yet another congratulations cake, courtesy of Shirley.   
"You don't have to make us cakes every time we succeed, you know."   
"I don't have to, I want to. " She said as she cut the cake. "You two went through a lot today and you still came out on top. I think that calls for celebration."   
"We aren't the only ones though. Jeff punched the Dean of City College in the face for us." Troy pointed out.   
"Thanks for saving me, by the way. Both of you."  
"Don't mention it. I'd do anything for you guys. Also, I've been wanting to deck him for years." Jeff acknowledged.   
Dean Pelton laughed heartily. "No shame in that. I would've done the same if I could throw a punch."   
"Are you kidding me, you bitched them out back there!" Britta reminded him.   
"For real?"   
"Yeah, he basically told him to grow up, let you guys have your moment, and retire the dumb feud. So hopefully, that means we won't ever have to see them again." Jeff confirmed. "Good job by the way. That was really fun to watch."   
"Of course. I'd do anything for you guys too."   
"Why? We broke all of your rules and blew off all your classes."Jeff brought up.   
"Yeah, but you paid to do so. And, you all stayed at Greendale. Even if you didn't want to admit it, you liked it here too." Dean Pelton smiled cheekily. "You've fought for this place just as much as I have. This was a win for all of us. But of course, mainly Troy and Abed."

"You're welcome. This rivalry would've never been solved if we didn't find them today, which wouldn't have happened if I didn't post about it."   
Jeff stopped her immediately. "Don't think this is 100% over and definitely don't take all the credit for it."   
"But you just said-"   
Jeff cut her off again. "I know what I said. Now as the Dean said before, let them have their moment. They just beat City College in a film festival where they were cheating. We told them people would like their movie, and we were right. Even when people tried to ruin today for them, they did not succeed." he looked to the two. "You two are a great couple, and an even better film duo. This victory is just the beginning."   
"Alright. A toast to the men of the hour?" Britta asked, holding up her glass.   
The rest of the group nodded and clinked theirs. "To Troy and Abed!" they then dug into the cake.   
The two smiled at each other, doing their handshake and exchanging "I love you"s.   
"I don't know what I would've done if City College won. But if they did, it wouldn't have been because people liked them more than you guys. No sane person would ever do that to themselves."  
  



End file.
